Monthly Archive for July, 2010

Vuvuzela Safety

Some street traders in the vicinity of World Cup sites were seen to be selling hearing protection (although HSM reports that business was not brisk!).

Recent Cases

A security guard died from carbon monoxide poisoning when a portable generator was used to provide power inside a makeshift office that had inadequate ventilation. His employer was fined £7 000 and the property owners £70 000 (no costs as it was in Scotland).

Sign workers turned up with a 4.5 metre platform to repair an 8.5 metre sign. One worker stood on top of the platform (that did not edge protection) and footed an extension ladder that was climbed by the contractor. When the whole thing was blown over by the high winds the two men were lucky to escape with miscellaneous fractures, dislocations and bruises! The contractor was fined £1000 plus £1000 costs; he has since purchased suitable equipment for working at height.

Safety & Health Practitioner, July 2010

Failure to provide a safe means of work (such as the use of a harness and fall restraint lanyard) resulted in a 9 metre fall that paralysed a young man from the chest down. Two companies and a managing director have been fined a total of £170 000 and £47 000 costs.

21 months in jail for the landlord that failed to provide the appropriate means of restricting fire spread, raising the alarm or means of escape from living accommodation above commercial premises. A tenant suffered 80% deep tissue burns and was was given less that a 1% chance of survival.

HSE Newsletter June / July 2010

A sweet manufacturer has been fined £4 500 plus £1 600 costs for 5 offences relating to failure to keep the premises clean or deal with a mouse infestation. The company had previously been fined £1 500 in 2006 and £4 000 in 2007 for similar offences. The managing director has been banned from running a food business (he has appealed against the prohibition).

Eight health & safety offences such as trip hazards, no COSHH assessments and inadequate staff training have resulted in  a hotel being fined £16 000 and £4945 costs. They have now employed an external consultant.

Environmental Health News, 2 July 2010

Myth Exposed

Do you hear the recent story about a local authority that had banned access to a coastal path along a loch unless a lifeguard was present? The truth is that the council had simply not put that particular path into a list of local walks suitable for families.

Fit For Work

Doctors are no longer supposed to issue “sick” notes that stipulate a worker is unfit for work; instead they should issue “fit” notes that indicate how capable a person is to undertake work. This may be “not fit for work”, “fit for work” or the centre ground “may be fit for some work”.

Where a GP stipulates a worker may be fit for some work they should also issue some general advice as to the work likely to be suitable. It is accepted that the doctor only has the employees version of the workplace and may have little knowledge of occupational health so, although the employer must take notice, it is only advice and does not have to be followed. However, given goodwill by both the employer and the employee these notes could make return to work after illness or injury much easier. Adjustments such as part-time working, lighter duties, longer breaks or workstation redesign may be appropriate.

Sentencing Guidelines For Corporate Manslaughter

The long awaited guidelines for Courts have now been issued. They do not include the expected fines of 10% of turnover but, instead, say courts should consider turnover, profit and assets in gauging the resources of the defendant. Factors likely to increase fines include the degree of non-compliance across the organisation, the failure to learn from near-misses and cost-cutting.

It is stipulated that fines must be punitive and sufficient to have an impact so will rarely be less than £ ½ million and could be in the millions. A company prosecuted for a similar offence under Health & Safety legislation is likely to attract a fine of at least £100 000 and potentially hundreds of thousands.

Rock’s Frolics

Many years ago I assisted a university in the production of a film about environmental health. One of the areas covered was drainage and I took the film crew to a location where I knew that smoke pumped into a sewer manhole in the centre of the road appeared from a series of rat holes along the embankment. I’ve no idea why but, no matter how much smoke we pumped into the sewer on that occasion, none appeared from the rat holes.

In desperation I lit a couple of smoke rockets and shoved them into the two largest holes; much to my delight the smoke appeared from several locations along the bank and the cameraman confirmed he had some good shots.

The final film quite clearly showed the use of a generator to pump grey smoke into the sewer resulting in copious amounts of brown smoke belching from the rat holes!